South Korean authorities say the country has reported a record 621,328 new daily Covid-19 cases and a daily record 429 deaths in the last 24 hours as the government which once took an aggressive anti-pandemic approach is set to end Covid restrictions.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said the highly infectious Omicron variant was driving the record wave of infections and while a public survey revealed many expected to catch the virus, few feared serious health consequences.

Daily infections are far higher than health authorities had predicted. On Wednesday the government said it expected the wave to top out with daily cases in the mid-400,000. Less than a month ago it had predicted the peak of the wave would come in mid-March at 140,000-270,000 daily cases.

Despite the numbers, the government shows no sign of rethinking plans to remove almost all social distancing restrictions in the coming days and weeks, and public opinion appears to support those moves.

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